A piece on the board
by SoMuchGerry
Summary: As every FE:A fic must start, waking up with out memory is one thing, not being in full control of yourself is another. Follow Greg's journey to reclaim his memories and his fight against a higher power that has left him unable to fully control himself. But does he really want to know why he is where he is and what role does that mage girl have to play in all if this. FE:13 fic.
1. Chapter 1

**So, here we go again, writing a new story. The last one as some may have noticed has been taken down. The story was new and had little popularity as well as me having little passion for the topic as well as being generally unhappy with the way I paced and the way character development just sort of happened off screen and I really don't like SAO that much but anyway, that was me being a bit naïve, heck I was procrastinating writing for calculus. Anyway this should be easier to write as well as easier to plan and get in details and jokes, you know things to make the story….not boring . The reason I chose FE:A for this fic was because I have the source material right at hand were I would probably rather write a path of radiance one, but haven't played it in around 6 years.**

**Anyway, enough justi****fic****ation, on with the show.**

Sleep is good.

God I love sleep, err, Naga I love sleep. I wish I could sleep all the time, that'd be choice, err, excellent, no no that doesn't sound right, err joyous, yeah that sounds better. Sleeping all of the time would be most joyous. Yes, that's it.

Oh well.

…

…

…

What the hell. Since when did I talk like that. Like a bloody olden times wannabe, err, pretender.

Also, was my bed ever cobblestone? That certainly seems like an important detail to forget. In fact there seems to be some awfully convenient gaps in my memory. Too convenient.

Lets start with what I've got.

A name, dipshit, no, but that certainly seems to have been part of my name, perhaps a nickname. Perhaps Govi, no that seems to be along the lines of nicknames as well. Aha, Greg, that seems respectable, and the one that tickles my fancy.

What else to have? Gender: Male. Well, that's something at least. Credits on the left, debits on the right, err right okay. Parabolas. That seems completely useless, if not overly easy. Thai food is incredibly delicious. I wonder what a Thai is? Poland. GLORY TO THE HOMELAND. Alright then. This seems to be a useless endeavour. Endeavour, the name of captain cooks ship and make targets HP equal to users. Once again, alright then. Heh, rhyming. Rapping, I hate rapping. Is there an 'ing' I enjoy? Besides sleeping, and eating. Perhaps writing, yeah? No? Yeah, definitely no. How about moving, I haven't done that yet. But it's still dark out, a little red out I suppose. Oh right, open eyes, that seems like a step that would be logical.

HOLY MOTHER OF NAGA LETS NEVER OPEN OUR EYES AGAIN.

Relax, blink, adjust to light yeah that's better. Look around. What an adorable little town, seems so peaceful, surprised no ones picked up on me yet. Perhaps I'm supposed to be here. Where is here? Is here home? That would make 'here' Poland. Is this Poland? Gods I ask a lot of questions.

Lets push all this aside, time for some moving.

HOLY MOTHER OF NAGA LETS NEVER MOVE AGAIN.

I let out a grunt as I push myself up. Stretching out the pain, I vowed to never again sleep on cobblestones, this pain was enough of an argument. Perhaps sleeping in heavy armour is a no go as well. Huh. Heavy…Armour…. Why in Naga's name would I sleep in this? Is it healthy to sleep in this? Is it healthy to sleep with a large axe as well. Perhaps I'm a psychopath, strange I remember being a student. Of what though, that seems to escape me, perhaps the axe.

Could I hunt some Thai with this axe, apparently it's delicious.

I looked around, hoping for a clue as to what might have led me to this situation. I could see a tavern across the way, which might be a good place to start with the gathering of the memories and such.

Did I drink much, probably, I do have blinding headache.

As I walked into the tavern I looked around again, trying to patch together a possible night gone wrong. No one seemed to be excessively aggressive towards me. GAH, speak normally!

I approached the counter, staring into the eyes of the barkeeper. He began to look worried. As I closed the gap more he began to sweat a little. Once at the counter I cleared my throat.

Before I could speak the barkeeper let out a small 'eep' and fainted.

Gosh, am I really that scary. Perhaps I did something last night, I better wake him quickly, I would like to know, honestly, I'm a little worried.

So began a rousing game of wake the barkeep, first round was shaking, second was slapping his face with an increasing degree of intensity, the third and final round was that of the ancient technique of pouring a jug of water over ones head. This gained reaction I had desired, an awake and alert, however spluttering and shivering barkeep. Looking towards me he let out another small 'eep'. This time I grabbed him before he could pass out again.

"What's the matter with you sir?" I enquired, "Are you alright?"

He looked to me in disbelief. "Do you belong to Garrick's band?"

"I do not play an instrument sir; I'm guessing that means you don't know me?"

"No I don't, and the only music I think any of the bastards under Garrick like is the screams of people or the clink of one gold coin against another."

I furrowed my brow, man, err, gods my voice was weird as fuck, err, incredibly strange. From what this man was telling me it almost sound as if these were….

"BANDITS" The call rang.

I would have said brigands but who gives a toss, err, none the less.

I stood up to see a number of people rushing off into town. Not wanting to miss out, I stepped out into what I thought was the setting sun. No suns, just fire, a crapload, err, unprecedented amount of fire.

A voice called out to me in my head as the sharp smell of burning everything entered my nose.

'_Wake up Mr Freeman' _It called, _'Wake up and smell the ashes'._

Freeman huh, weird last name. Does it Imply I am free or would I be free without it?

My train of thought was brought to a close by a piece of building falling next me.

Fuck, err, By the gods, that was close, I best move.

I began running through the town ushering lost looking people in the direction the others had taken. I quickly pushed out into the square, the area now devoid of people but also, thankfully, out of the suffocating heat of the flames. I stood and caught my breath, my throat was dry and it was hard to breathe. Just as I thought I was almost ready to reassess the situation I looked up to see a man dressed in a garish red outfit, pointing a sword at me. He smirked at me sizing me up.

Without warning he jumped at me with a wild swing I rolled out of the way and pulled out an axe like second nature, maybe I had been a student of the axe. As he dashed at me again I swung my, catching him with the blunt edge, sending him sprawling, clutching what till a few seconds ago had been his jaw. Without a moments hesitation I jumped forward at him bring down my axe as hard as I could.

With a slight splatter and sickening crunch, the myrmidon in front of me was no longer alive.

The mangled corpse of what was man lay before me. I looked almost, pretty, the blood trickling between the cobblestones, reflecting the light of the flaming buildings.

…

That settles it, I'm a psychopath.

Shuddering as I tried to shake off the weird feeling of happiness that I felt, I almost didn't notice a barbarian running at me with his axe drawn. I must have been pretty distracted as the brute may as well have been singing opera, the sheer volume of his war cry was astonishing.

Bringing up my axe I blocked his shot and held fast. I felt his strength prevailing against me. Pushing his blade to side, I quickly rolled in the opposite direction, my armour clanking as I did so.

As I regained my composure, I pirouetted to face my foe. He was still off balance from my deflection and I saw my chance. I swung my axe upward, catching him in the gut, slicing through his organs and nicking the spine as it came out.

Suffice to say, he was dead.

Not wanting to be caught off guard again, I looked around the square. There was a pikeman with his back to me. Caring not for the honour of battle, knowing full well he would have an advantage over me I cut off his head. A little anti-climactic and somewhat brutal, but it got the job done.

Before I could make my way further into the square, I found myself feeling cold and unable to move, searching for an answer I looked down. A sword stuck through the toughened leather joint on my armour. My right shoulder at least, so not be good arm. The blade withdrew and I was left staring as the blood began to flow out.

"Serves ya right" I heard a voice from behind me call.

What an ass, err, what an unpleasant adversary. Ugh. I don't think that I will get used this.

Spinning around I slashed up striking the assassin across the chest, shattering his ribs, the shards sticking into his chest killing him instantly.

Before I could even admire my work, I felt my body in the grips of an invisible cold hand. Looking back to the cut through my shoulder I say it spewing out more blood than before and more than I had thought it might have done.

"Oh dear…" escaped my lips as I stumbled forward crashing to the ground.

Sleep is good.

God I love sleep, err, Naga I love sleep. I wish I could sleep all the time, that'd be choice, err, excellent, no no that doesn't sound right, err joyous, yeah that sounds better. Sleeping all of the time would be most joyous. Yes, that it's.

Oh well.

…

…

…

Haven't we been through this already?

Yeah, let's skip the rest of this debarkle and get to the point where we open our eyes shall we?

Flinging my eyes open I saw a group people talking with the innkeeper and someone who was dressed rather flashy for a quaint village in the country, the mayor perhaps.

The group of people seemed just as out of place as the mayor. One had a regal armour set, one was wearing armour that seemed befitting of a royal knight, one seemed to have a pretty girl meets Goth look with a spiked metal cage under her dress that probably provided armour and mobility and finally, the one in the big black hooded cloak, what a nice cloak it was, the markings were intriguing, pity the man looked awfully bland. There was another girl as well, she was wearing a mages outfit and skimming through a book. Against all logical process', she scared the hell, err, living day lights out of me. Although I am unsure why, perhaps I have a type of Gynophobia, well that doesn't work, that other girl isn't bothering me, what coul…

"Um, hello?"

Turning to face the interruption to the chain of my thoughts, the blue haired lord who was looking at me with a look of impatience. I must have been ignoring him while lost in thought, I better make a good impression.

"I'm terribly sorry sir." I blurted out, "I was lost in thought, please forgive." Why was I so formal, this didn't seem right.

"It's okay" the blue haired one said, "No need to worry, you had a bit of a close shave back there but you managed a good effort, you took out more than Frederick did."

The armoured knight behind him grew flustered at the mention of this. "My Lord Chrom" he said "I was simply protecting you and Lissa from danger."

The blue haired man, who I could now identify as Chrom, chuckled to himself, as if thinking of a private joke. "Either way" he said with a smile "What is your name?"

My name? Oh right, dipsh-no, My name is…"Greg, Milord, my name is Greg, or Gregory if you so desire."

"Greg is fine, but I'd prefer it if you called me Chrom."

"Yes Milor- Chrom."

Chrom smiled again helping me up, he quickly began to introduce me officially to the rest of his crew, err, squad, no, not that either, ah, Platoon. He introduced the knight as Frederick the wary, his 'babysitter' as his sister Lissa called him, who I had since learned was about as far one can get from a Goth. Christ, err, Naga was she overly perky, err, excitable. This really has to stop, I'm not a noble. He briefly introduced the cloaked man as Robin. Words of praise left Chrom's mouth like a waterfall directed at Robin.

"We do have one other member." Chrom said, catching himself and turning to face the girl who had scared me earlier, calling her over, "Catherine!" He called out, waving out. The girl turned around, her dark patterned cloak twirling in unison with her red shoulder length hair. She seemed to have been occupied in a book she was holding. Clapping the book shut in her hand she stared at me in a look of shock.

"Catherine!" Chrom called out again "This is…" Chrom had but naught (_SERIOUSLY, EVEN WHILST I MONOLOGUE_) a chance to finish his sentence before, the girl came barrelling towards us. A look happiness almost seemed to be creeping across her face. "Oh my god, Greg" she called. I looked towards the people who surrounded me, they looked back. A general consensus of confusion seemed to have been have been reached.

At the moment of impact I felt myself almost tumbling backwards, I managed to steady myself detaching the scary lady from myself. Before a word could even pass my lips, she launched into an excited babble.

"Greg, oh my god, you're alive"

"Uuh, was I dead?"

"Never mind." She said, waving off my question as if were nothing but a trivial matter. "Where are the others?"

I furrowed my eyebrows; this conversation was only getting more awkward as it progressed. "Which others would these be Milady?"

She looked at me like I was a complete idiot. "You know" she said, "Harris, Chloe and Jonathan, your best fr… wait a minute, did you just say Milady?"

"I did, many apologies if I have offended you."

She stepped back from me a look of absolute shock. She looked at me, scanning me with her eyes from head to toe. She paused for a moment, regaining her composure before she could speak again. "Greg," she said hesitantly, "Where do you come from?"

"Well you see Milady, it is quite simple." I said. I woke up on the ground this morning with no memories whatsoever, that's what I wanted to say, the words that crossed my lips almost left me screaming in frustration, "I am but a wanderer, trained in the ways of the axe." Inside my head I was panicking, although I had control over my body, it seemed there were some things that I couldn't control, some things that were locked in place for me to say. I was a set in character and was unable to break it.

"How long has this been happening?" she said, beginning to lose the happiness that was once in her eyes.

Err, since never I felt like saying. Unfortunately I found words once again filling my mouth. "The concept of time has since escaped me Milady."

She frowned once more, stepping back from me. "Alright." She said hesitantly, walking away as she did so, "Come talk to me if anything comes to you."

I was left gaping in confusion, what had just happened? This exchange had taken most of a page of writing and I didn't know how to feel about any of it. The soldiers next to me seemed to have the disposition towards what had just happened. Part of me was still screaming however, words were being put in my mouth as if I was just part of story and to say anything else was to ruin everything that had been carefully planned.

"A-Anyways" Chrom stammered, "I would like to extend an invitation to the Shepards."

"I'm afraid I have no experience handling livestock Commander."

"Chrom," he corrected me, "and we're not that kind of Shepard."

And so ensued a lengthy conversation about Chrom's bad of merry men (and women.). Peacekeepers huh. I suppose that this is the ideal job for me. I looked over to Catherine, she seemed lost in thought, furiously flicking through her book, or tome as I presumed it was. I wonder if I did really know her, perhaps I did at some point and have gone and annoyed her to no end by forgetting. Mayhaps these others held the key to what I once knew. At this thought I agreed to join with Chrom.

As we left town, I could only look on as the others around joked and laughed and settled back into what I assumed was normality. My thoughts were interrupted by complaints from my stomach; it felt as though I had not eaten in days.

I called to Frederick asking if he had any food that could possibly satisfy my cravings. When he shook his head and announced that we would have to hunt for tonight's dinner, a strange request crossed my mind.

"Do you think we would be able to hunt Thai?"

"What?" Said Frederick, looking confused.

"Thai." I said again, "I hear its delicious."

"I'll keep an eye out." Said Frederick.

Both of us could only look on as Catherine collapsed onto the path, laughing so hard that it sounded as though she might choke.

Once she had calmed down, she looked up at the once again bewildered group. Stifling a giggle she said, "Yep, you're definitely Greg."

**BLAH. Chapter one is done. **

**This is a lot easier and more enjoyable to write to than my last fic and I will hopefully have the next chapter up in a week if this lull in schoolwork continues. I can't promise regular updates but they will never be unbearably long waits. Also with a more coherent storyline I have a chance to write fluff and romance, so there's that. On that note, gimmie pairings, gimmie gimmie. I have some very vague plans on pairings but all are easily overwritten as even the plot isn't set in stone yet. PM with suggestions and pairings as to not unbalance the reviews. I may accept some OC's if they are sent to me, but be warned, I can't guarantee them any kind of plot centric role. **

**See soon, hopefully. I look forward to hearing from you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter one was fairly well received and I have plenty more to write about. However not everything is set in stone just yet and I am looking for those who would be willing to suggest story arcs, characters and pairings that would go along with story and the personalities that I will be giving everyone. Not everyone is going to be quite as black and white as they are in the game. Also remember, this my story. I will quite happily say a hearty 'fuck you' to what the game says can't happen. This includes pairings, classes and the likes, so really, the sky's the limit.**

**Back to it anyway.**

I'm going back to my previous statement, I hate moving. I don't just hate it, I wish a swift death upon it and its family. Perhaps I should speak to the exalt about outlawing moving. I'm sure everyone would be a lot happier if the day was spent sleeping or laying about. There would be a lot less trouble and there would be no need to have the Shepards, no need to fight brigands.

But how would you enforce that?

There would have to be a enforcement agency who broke the law and that would mean that there would still be moving and people who had complete control over the cities.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Perhaps if the streets were flooded with lava, or man-eating bison or even man-eating lava bison, yeah, that works.

Note to self, ask Robin if man-eating lava bison actually exist. If answer is yes, draw up plan and present it to the exalt him, err, herself. If answer is no, begin search for closest alternative.

Gods, is this really what I think about.

"You alright there Greg?"

I turn around to see an out of breath Catherine, dragging her feet in the waning sun, trying to catch. I slow myself down to make it easier on her. Whether I know her or not is one question, however she seems to at least think she knows me and the least I can do is be friendly.

Well the least I can do is nothing, none the less, it wouldn't be wise to start annoying people in group I have just joined.

"I am fine Milady." I say, wiping my brow "I was simply lost in my thoughts, wondering if it is too early to quit this line of work."

She laughed, again. She seems easily amused, not as if she is stupid, but as if she just wanted to laugh at everything.

"I told you to drop the Milady thing three hours ago Greg, anyway, I'm guessing that you were thinking about how much you hate moving."

What, she knows. Perhaps she really does know me, although maybe she's a mind reader. These options seem far-fetched, it was really an easy guess and I still feel like she's not telling me everything. She seemed somewhat relieved when I told her I had no memory of her and the 'friends' she mentioned after we had started walking earlier today. The multiple times she had approached over the course of the day. Once she told me to cut the crap and got overly angry at me, another time she cried at me and apologised profusely for what she did, begging for forgiveness. Something told me it wasn't for earlier outburst, but my memory didn't go back far enough know.

"How would you know that?" I say, "Am I that easy to read?"

She shook her head, flicking red hair back and forth, stopping to brush it back before replying properly. "Not really Greg" she said with a smile, making me feel a little uneasy, "Like I keep saying, I seem to know you better than you do at the moment."

I resisted the urge to run for at least the third time today, this girl scared me on a deeper level and I wonder if she was some weird kind of stalker that I once knew, either that or I have a fear of Red heads. What a stupid fear.

Whatever the cause of this deeper level of fear I felt, she was right. I have no idea who I really am, just a few pieces of information that do not really make much sense at all. She seemed to have a wealth of knowledge on me, whether or not she was simply pretending and tricking me was not an issue, I needed some kind of background and she seemed to be well integrated into the Shepards group, which could work in my favour.

So, in short, stay nice with the scary girl. Also don't call her scary, doing that would probably not end too well for me.

I sighed inwardly; my life was complicated as of this moment and I didn't have half a days worth of memories under my belt.

The distant chatter of Robin and Chrom filled the void of silence that had fallen between Catherine and I; I felt yet another new emotion, envy.

The two of them seemed to already be the best buds, err, friends. Robin also seemed to have way with people; Lissa seemed to jabber away to him in the gaps between Chrom's words, Frederick also seemed to not hold his lance so rigidly towards him whenever he approached Chrom and his eyes seemed to not shoot the daggers towards him as they did to me. Catherine seemed to like him as well, talking to him excitedly about magic and comparing tomes earlier in the afternoon.

Speaking of Catherine, seemed rather good at interrupting my thoughts, her voice chanting my name and her surprisingly hard punch hitting my arm.

"Oy, Greg", she said, still punching my arm as I turned my head around to face her, "Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg."

"Yes Milady." I said, hiding the irritation in my voice, hoping she was not in a mood similar mood to I.

"Catherine," she deadpanned.

"Err, yes Catherine," I said, mentally face palming, err, berating myself at continuing to use formal titles even though no body seems to want them.

She perked up again, seeming to like me being less of the overly polite man that I had simply come to expect.

…

Now I feel like an ass, err, horrible person.

She didn't seem to mind though, she launched straight into what she had planned ahead of time, little regard for what I might be thinking or have to say on the matter.

"I'm going to say some words, and you're going to say the first word that comes into your head, mkay."

"Do I have a choice in the matter?"

"No." She said sharply, crossing her arms, cementing her position, trying put a wall across the option if not answering her questions.

I sighed, outwardly this time. "Alright then," I said, "Shall we proceed?"

I was taking this remarkably well, was this how it normally went in this situation, if it is then that might mean I knew her enough to not fight it. Even so, I hoped I was this submissive all the time.

NOT LIKE THAT KIND OF SUBMISSIVE!

She smiled again, blissfully unaware of my inner embarrassment and inner shame for even thinking of something like that.

"Yes," She said, somewhat mockingly, "We Shall."

Making sure she was beside me she pulled out her one of her books and flicked to what appeared to be the latest page.

Clearing her throat, she straightened up and flicked her hair back again, gaining something of a professional air that I had yet to see from her.

"Charles de Gualle."

"Who?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter who he is," She said, waving her hand, dismissing me and my supposed naivety, "Just say the first that comes to mind."

"Fine." I say, "Jackal."

She smiles, did I say what she wanted me to. Before I have a chance ask her she's launching ahead with the next set of words.

"Shepard."

"Commander." Odd, I thought I would say Chrom or something along those lines, my sub conscious seems to have other ideas, however this is good, these random words probably mean something. To Catherine at least.

"Interesting." She mutters, furiously scribbling something down.

Before I can ask what has piqued her interest she launches back into her words.

"Calculus."

"Pain."

I see her scribble with renewed intensity. "I see," she say, "That's all for now."

"Really?" I say, feeling relieved, "Only three words?"

"Yes." She says bluntly, "You seem to be able to call on your memories, are you sure you're not just fucking with me."

"I swear Milady, I did not make a jest."

"Speak English Goddamit." She snaps at me, hurrying ahead, still writing furiously into her book. Pencil scribbling, not seeming to go blunt.

I sighed once again, I seemed to be particularly good at sighing, maybe I should seek help. Either way I was alone again, a cool breeze blew past, leaving me shivering. The sun was close to touching the horizon and the heat it gave off was coming to an end for the day.

I was left lagging behind slightly, enough so I could lose myself in thought once more, take my mind off my exhaustion. The conversation had felt good while it lasted, somewhat familiar at that as well. Perhaps I should try to be a bit more positive about everything that's happening, I very little memory, so I can build a new me alongside these people, one that perhaps is part of the group, rather than following along behind it.

…

…

…

I've already fucked, err, buggered, err, messed up then.

Well isn't that just peachy.

Looking up at the sky, I don't see the hooded figure of Robin approach me. I turn to see him clearing his throat. Looking a little sheepish.

"Greg was it?" he says. I nod. He nods back. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He continues.

I wave my hand at him. "No no," I say, dismissing his doubts, "Just lost in thought."

He laughs, pulling his cloak around him to protect himself from the cold breeze that blew through again. His short black hair barely moving while his hood flapped lazily in the wind behind him.

"That's something I would like to do, as soon as I get the thoughts to do it." He says, tapping his head as if to emphasise the point that he has amnesia. I almost told him that evening my mental state of vague memories I managed fine but something held be back. Both of us having amnesia at the same time might seem like too much of a co-winkydink for old Frederick to handle.

I laugh in return, he seems like a genuinely nice guy, I straighten my armour to a more comfortable position before starting to stretch out my aching muscles as I walked along.

"I'm guessing have something to say master Robin." I say, continuing to stretch. Did I seriously just call him master, I might not even be older than him. I continue to talk while I still seem lost in thoughts. "You probably didn't come back here for undying attention or to make yourself feel loved." That sounded a little snarky, perhaps I should apologize.

Whatever I may have been implying seems to have gone over Robin's head. I suppose most amnesiacs have problems with social cues. I seem to be an exception. He just laughs, taking it as a joke or maybe just laughing it off.

"No." He says chuckling, "I suppose you saw everything from back here."

I nod. "I do not think that Sir Frederick should think about leaving you alone with either of them, especially Chrom."

A look of confusion spread across Robin's face, he seems to have missed my innuendo, mind you I just as confused. One minute I'm all lords and ladies, the next I making sex jokes. I need to have a conversation with myself to work out a constant personality, and as much as I hate the lords and ladies one that seems to be the best option. I don't particularly want to offend anyone, especially the extravagantly dressed lord Chrom, who seems to be my only ticket into employment and I am not ending up on the benefit.

…

What the bloody hell, err, in the name of Naga is the benefit. I seem to be rather good at baffling myself. Hopefully some of my memories return soon, otherwise with the number of long internal conversations I seem to be having, I might as well just keep spinning around in circles. It would probably leave me in a better mental state.

…

I wonder how much time passes in-between these monologues, do they happen in real time or to I just shut down and stare into space.

…

Looking to my left both Robin and Catherine are furiously scribbling something down in their notebooks. I'm guessing that I do just slip off into space, I should really do something about that.

I clear my throat drawing the attention of the two people next to me. Catherine just runs back ahead to catch up with Chrom and the others while Robin hurriedly hides his journal inside of his cloak. I'm guessing in pocket with his tomes.

"Having fun?" I ask looking at a slightly embarrassed Robin.

Robin scratches his face, looking a little sheepish as he does so. "Uh Yeah" he says "I thought I should probably take some notes on the soldiers we've got, Chrom seems rather set on having me as tactician."

"Makes sense, but also, it does not make sense." I say

"How so?"

"Chrom has seen you fight and strategise, for what, only one battle was it?"

"Yeah." Robin says, blank look covering his face. He may not look like much but his emotions seems slightly incredibly overacted. Before I can get further into this topic, Robin continues. "And?"

"And," I say, stretching it out as condescendingly as I can "Milord Chrom is awfully quick to trust a random stranger to become his chief tactician after one battle with some bandits ruffling a few feathers at a border."

Robin quickly averts his gaze, flicking his head straight forward. The relaxed atmosphere seems to have disappeared completely.

"You think I haven't considered that?" He snaps at me. "I feel like I'm in way over my head, as far as I know, I got lucky, I don't deserve the praise Chrom is throwing at me and I'm tearing myself up over whether or not I will have a chance to actually get a grasp on what I am doing."

Robin stops himself, breathing a little heavier, fists clenching and unclenching. Looking ahead to the group of the rest of the Shepards ahead of us, I feel immensely relieved this quiet exchange between Robin and I had stayed that way. Quiet.

The laughing Shepards further up the path had no knowledge of this. Whether they had their own suspicions or not was another thing. Whatever the situation may be, Robin was the only thing close we had to a tactician and if he wasn't confident then we had a greater risk of harm.

Or even death.

Oddly, the second option sounded more familiar than the first and scaringly welcoming.

I shuddered a little bit; I need to talk to someone about this odd side of me. I had that strange admiration of blood and now I'm quick to embrace my own death.

…

…

Yeah, definitely a psychopath.

Turning to Robin I set myself up psych him up, prepare him to lead us into a fight for our lives against the unending barbarian forces, to bring us to victory.

With a fire ignited in my heart, my body turning face the black haired tactician, only to find him mid speech with a similar look of intensity on his face.

"But I can't let anyone die." Robin spits out, looking up at me, "So I have to take all of this in my stride."

I nod and grin, pretending I had been listening the whole time. "You have a way with words, truly Master Robin." I say, hoping I'm not overselling it a little. "May your words inspire others to fight, rather than just yourself."

Robin smiles at me, picking up his pace to catch up with the others. As the distance between us starts to stretch, a thought cross' my mind.

"Hey Robin!" I call out.

He slows his pace to come closer to me again. "You alright Greg?" he asks.

"I'm fine." I say dismissing his concerns. "But can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Robin shrugs.

"Why was Catherine taking notes with you while I had my head in the clouds?"

Robin frowns a little. "She asked me to get her whenever you did so and I was around."

"Any reason why given to you?"

Robin shakes his head, flicking his around in the now still late evening air. "No." He says in monotone.

"She really scares me." I say almost absentmindedly, "This seems to be one of the reasons why."

Before Robin can say anything in return, a call comes from ahead of us.

"FINALLY, I WAS SO SICK OF WALKING!" Shouts the unmistakeable voice the resident healer.

Jogging lightly to catch up to source of the voice, I feel myself almost collapsing as I reach the campsite that has already begun taking shape under the watchful eye of Frederick. I took a seat next to the fire that Chrom had begun to put together only jump back in shock as a well placed fire ball from Catherine lit the bundle of sticks alights.

Taking the same approach as Chrom to the situation, I shuffle well out of reach. Unfortunately, well out of reach was also the heat of the fire. Giving a little shiver I look at sun, it peaks back at me from the top trees, before falling out view.

I smile to myself. It's certainly been an interesting day.

**This is what I missed doing while writing for SAO, chapters of sweet FA. Some may be annoyed that I turned something that wasn't even a second long in game into an entire chapter, but if I fit character development wherever I can it saves me having to do it in larger clumps which is boring. Also, still looking for pairings. Questions welcome too! I will answer them all.**

**Hope to hear from you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Those of you who read this and do not plan on reviewing or following, flick me a PM about what you didn't enjoy about the story. If feed back starts building up I have an idea of what I can do. Also it is still early days so larger edits are still possible. While you're there, feel free to send in a pairing. Everyone is fair game at the moment.**

**Oh and for previous chapters and the rest of the story. I do not fire emblem. It and its characters are property of intelligent systems and Nintendo. I only own the OC's.**

**Either way, thanks for at least reading.**

_A roar._

_A screech._

_A shout. _

_Silence._

_A shuffling sound starts up, a groan. A cry in dismay, a flurry of names hits me, they all mean nothing to me anymore._

_More shuffling around me, the names come again, still meaningless. _

_A touch to my neck, two fingers searching frantically for a pulse. A search made in vain._

_A voice, familiar, but panicked. Ranting, screaming, and finally crying. Apologies falling out of the blackness._

_A breath in._

_A breath out._

_A final apology, before nothing. _

_One emotion, my last emotion remains._

_Fear._

_One last memory. A name._

_Not just any name, someone close, almost family._

_A name that would haunt my ghost if it walked the earth._

_The name of someone who would have to nail the closet closed to have a hope of keeping the skeletons in._

_That name._

_The reason I am here._

_Catherine._

Sitting bolt upright, I caught my breath. It felt as though I had forgotten to breathe through out that ordeal. Looking around I could see that my state of unrest was shared among the group. Robin was tossing and turning beneath his scratchy woollen blanket. His face contorted, flicking between a good natured one that I had seen in the evening, joking around the campfire, and face that looked darker, shadowed, catching the warm orange glow of the embers that remained of our fire.

Frederick seemed tense even as he slept, ready to spring into action if anything seemed amiss. He didn't seem to be doing so well. The more luxurious bed spreads that obvious belonged to Chrom and Lissa lay abandoned. As much as Milord Chrom liked to play at being the knight he was still a noble at heart. As much as he may have fought that statement, his taste for soft cotton sheets and silken pillows might have fought back.

Finally, her. She slept easily, no tossing just a look of sadness on her face, a far cry from the somewhat determined person who was furiously taking notes around me yesterday. Chrom had told me that she had been taken under the wing of Miriel, the Shepards resident boffin. He had said how Miriel's rather unresponsive personality had rubbed off on her slightly.

However he said she was a little crazy when they met her so maybe I should thank Naga a little bit.

Whatever the matter, I know one thing for certain. I'm never eating bear meat again.

The same cold breeze blew in from the forest as it had last night. Flopping back onto my sleeping mat with a thud, I pulled up my blanket until I felt it scratch against my chin. Rolling onto my side, I looked into the forest, hoping the pitiful remains of the fire would heat up my back a little.

Looking into the darkness, my thoughts drifted back to last night and the conversations. I felt as though I was a part of this whole group, not the random 'student of the axe' that seemed to put a particularly well armoured member of our group at risk. However he had no problem with me speaking like a pompous twat, err, gentleman. The pattern of speech that seemed to come naturally and seemed far too trivial to fight.

However, the feeling of comfort did not seem to afford me the ability to speak freely, at times I felt nervous, at others, the words simply weren't allowed to leave my mouth. Something nagged at the back of my mind, telling me not to change anything, keep to the status quo.

Before I can lose myself in my social inadequacies, the ground beneath us begins to shake.

Everyone shoots to their feet, eyes flying around the clearing, quickly drawn to a spreading orange glow in the forest. However, that seems to be the least of our worries.

I wonder if giant glowing eyes in the sky are normal around these parts.

Maybe not, considering Frederick's world record armour equipping time and his frantic climbing onto his horse, leaving Robin, Catherine and I alone.

Fuck, err, taff.

We are suddenly left in a rather awkward silence. Robin, flicking his coat over his shoulders, looks around the clearing. While Catherine seems excited.

Huh.

Let's ignore that.

Strapping on the last of my armour and picking up my axe, I begin to look around the same as Robin. Everything seems calm; the fire crackling in the woods out where Frederick had rode off into. Well, when I say crackling I really mean a near full blown inferno but my psychopathic tendencies seem to still be shining through.

Amidst my admiration of this beautiful fire I almost missed the tapping against my arm courtesy of Robin.

"You seem relatively calm about this." He said, relieving my arm as I turned my head towards him slowly.

"So did you until just now." I say turning back to the face the fire.

"I swear there is something in the bushes, they keep rustling and I swear I heard a moan." He said in a hushed to as if sharing his suspicions might somehow make them true.

"You're just being paranoid, Frederick will find Chrom and Lissa and we will be on our merry way." I say, not looking at Robin. I swear this fire looks like people dancing, some strange form of art.

Robin starts babbling, wringing his hands a little in the corner of my vision, going on about something in an angsty manner. Sometime time seems to have passed before some calling my name broke my chain of thought.

"Greg, Oi, Greg."

An "Eh" crosses my lips as I turn to face Catherine, who was apparently the source. She promptly turned to Robin.

"Sorry." She said, "He gets like that around fire sometimes."

"He seemed fine around last nights fire."

"I mean big fires, he used to take medicine for it."

"Did he ever light any?" Robin asked a little nervously, flicking a sideways glance towards me.

"No, strangely he never did." Catherine said after a couple of seconds of thought. Then she frowned. "Or at least none that I know of…"

Both seem more than a little nervous, I need something to remedy this situation before it gets to awkward.

Please Naga, give me something.

At that point a number of red dressed soldiers lumbered half heartedly out of the bushes, before spotting us and charging. As we turned and drew our weapons, I flicked a little thank you to the gods. As these fighters closed in, I almost took it back. Unlike the bandits we had fought yesterday, was it yesterday? Do I have to be awkward and say earlier today? Anyway, rather unlike out previous opponents, these seemed to be already dead.

The red glowing eyes and brown rotting flesh falling off their already partially decomposed bodies kinda gave it away.

Oh and the animalistic roar. You can't forget the animalistic roar.

Robin seemed somewhat unphased by the whole undead situation and seemed to be looking at them more like normal soldiers than abominations intent on tearing us limb from limb in the fastest way possible. Catherine on the other hand while still looking confident had gone a shade of white I had previously thought was reserved for milk.

"Alright" Robin said, spinning his sword in one hand with what looked like lightning crackling in the other, "I have a plan." I swear I hear something along the lines of 'of course you fucking do' from behind me as I swing my axe around warming myself up.

"What does this plan entail Master Robin?" I ask hoping to get this over and done with so that the fight can begin and we can be prepared. Also the undead are taking their time reaching us and suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

"Us fighting them."

…

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

…

"Really?"

"That's all we really need to do."

"I pray to the gods that you put a little more thought into it than that in the future." I say, swinging my axe to intercept one of the undead soldiers that had reached us. After an almost unsatisfying squelch the soldier fell to the ground, dissolving in a purple mist.

"In the future I will hopefully have more time to plan than a few seconds." Robin said as he punched the rotting barbarian in the chest with his electrified fist, shocking him before slicing his head clean off, allowing for a spout of purple mist in place of blood.

As I jumped back to avoid the spear of a cavalier on his surprisingly scary, glowing eyed horse, I also managed to avoid a large ball of fire that hit into the horseman who had narrowly missed me, sending him and his mount flying off in a comical fashion. "Can't you two take this seriously?" Catherine yelled at us, readying another fireball in her hand.

"We are!" Robin and I yell back in unison, chopping down more of the nightmarish soldiers as we did so.

"GRAAAH."

I spin around to intercept a blow, only be caught off guard by another one catching me on the side. As I launch myself backwards I get a better look at my assailant, two, count 'em, two swords. It reared up to attack me again, slicing forward with both blades, breaking my hastily thrown up block and knocking me off balance. As it jumped back pausing waiting to strike I heard the faint sound of what I would describe as a breath of wind before slight slap. I quickly put the pieces together as the swordsman in front of me fell to the ground a number of arrows sticking out of the purple mist.

…

That was anticlimactic. I didn't even get to kill him. There were so many ways I could have done it too. Breaking the laws of physics and shouting out some pithy quote seemed to be what I was leaning towards.

On the other hand, breaking the laws of physics seems inadvisable. Getting trouble with the law seems to be a bad way to introduce yourself to everyone.

Wait… Don't those only apply to physics? Am I a physic? What even are physics? What even are the laws that I considered breaking?

More importantly, why does my head hurt?

Shaking myself out of whatever trance I had managed to get myself into this time I turn to face whoever the archer was that, despite my earlier misgivings, helped us. Needless to say I was surprised to see what looked to be a lady with long blue hair holding a bow and a irate looking boy with short crimson hair riding a horse next to her.

"Was that you with the bow miss? Robin asked, wiping the grime off his sword onto the nearby foliage.

The archer was about to answer proudly it seemed, puffing up her chest before horseback boy and Catherine started laughing and she was left with a look of absolute distraught on her face.

"Surely you jest good sir." She replied in an oddly masculine voice with an all to familiar accent, "I Virion, the archest of archers am no 'miss', I am a strong man who dost only wants the best for these ladies here."

…Oh…

Right let's start this chain of thought again, correctly this time.

Shaking myself out of whatever trance I had managed to get myself into this time I turn to face whoever the archer was that, despite my earlier misgivings, helped us. Needless to say I was surprised to see what looked to be a man with long blue hair holding a bow and a irate looking woman with short crimson hair riding a horse next to him.

Robin seemed to be unable to do this, perhaps because he spoke out first. I am more than genuinely glad that I kept my mouth sealed shut. Regaining his composure slowly he flicked his coat back into place straightening out, trying to do something similar to his face at the same time.

While our reckless tactician stood opening and closing his mouth in manner that caused a little 'pop' every time he did so, initiative was mine to take.

"Well met milord" I said bowing ever so slightly, "My apologies as well, our tactician lacks… tact."

Catherine muttered something about her Robin and something being cuter as well.

Ignoring that. "I hope we can re-introduce and start over." I smiled and bowed again, "My name is Gregory, at the current point I have been left with these two." Gesturing vaguely in the direction of my companions. "The trout in black is Robin, our current would be tactician and the young lady is Catherine."

At this Virion smiled, he seemed to be on better ground, even his ruffles were seemingly filled with life again. His speech was something else, he almost seemed to purr out his words. After a brief no hard feelings esque speech, he flicked his eyes to Catherine. "Oh my." He said with a strange flourish of his hand and a graceful flick of his hair. "Truly a beauty such as you should not be confined to this place, your beauty and passion glow almost as prettily as your hair in the light of the fire, an- argh."

I saw the red horseman, err, woman flick her lance back around to that the spiked end was facing forward wiping the other end across the ground as to rid of anything the flamboyant archer might have left on it. She turned to Robin and I, giving us a once over before finally speaking. "The name's Sully, nice to meetcha, I'm already familiar with Cat there from the Shepards."

Gosh, what a deep voice. It's a little scary. Not really scary, just spider in the couch scary.

…

What's a couch? Please, I don't want to play the game where I have to ask Catherine every five words what she's talking about. Except this time with myself.

Before introductions could continue past the point of couch spiders, Chrom, Frederick and princess pigtails came galloping (For the record I'm going to say galloping gallantly because it seems to early to trounce the over compensating lord, but in truth the manner in which Chrom was to be found clinging to the brown, speeding stallion was anything but heroic, gallant or fluid. A more accurate description would hilarious) gallantly out the woods in the rough direction of where Frederick had buggered off to, followed by some more of those flamboyant mist machines and what appeared to lava.

Or magma, whatever floats your boat.

There were some words shouted about fighting and preparation and stuff from the mouth's of Robin and Frederick but the message was clear.

Time to wreck shit, err….

IT'S TIME TO DUEL.

Why does that make me cringe even more than the last one?

Any fantasies about fighting these creatures were quickly quashed as I found myself out sped, out fought and generally out of luck.

Before I had gotten lucky and fought with the advantage or some form of prior planning. Also without the direction Robin, which I had previously ignored I felt lost and out of sync.

It may also be the fact that I was wearing armour to large and heavy for my slight frame or the fact that my prior knowledge or the axe may have been more commonsense and sheer bloodlust than actual training.

All of the factors seem to be leaning towards me being incredibly badly inured and my bloods sudden evacuation from my earthly form.

Gods I feel dizzy.

There were a couple of shouts from my concerned comrades as I lazily swung my axe around, catching the last hollow beneath the ribs launching upwards in a jet of purple mist as I fell in the opposite direction in a jet of its red counterpart.

Mayhaps a change of lifestyle is in order.

Or I could die. That could work. In fact this feeling here seems awfully familiar. Did I make a habit of bleeding out or was this just that human instinct.

I felt my consciousness swimming as the healer that I now felt bad for internally mocking was waving her stick of wood around like a baton at a street parade.

…

Perhaps there is some kind of dictionary that can tell me what I'm on about.

Hey, how could I get so badly wounded in heavy armour? I suppose making myself a bigger target could always, oh, there goes my heart, no more beating, bye bye to the body's metronome.

Is this my last light? Am really going to die already? I mean sure, they will probably move on just fine and all but that's not to say I won't be upset.

Because I bloody will. I loved me and seeing me go would really spell an end to any ill-conceived notion about redemption and a life after death an- Oh, I'm back alive. Yay.

Woot. Let's party.

Eyes barely opened, the voices around me seemed to convey some feeling of relief and the rhythmic 'thwack' of Lissa's staff alongside her shouts to never stress her out like that again because otherwise she would kill me herself.

It never stops with these guys huh?

**This was a chapter that I worried about for a start. However, finishing it felt good and being able to let loose in a dying internal monologue was fun. Sorry for update times, alongside being the go to person when it comes to family mail delivery in Europe on top of writing another story. This one is for RWBY and it has two chapters already and is dedicated to making fun of fanfiction clichés as well as myself. If you like RWBY fanfiction, give it hit up, or if you don't, give a glance anyway, me not liking RWBY fanfiction is why I wrote it in the first place.**

**Also everyone needs to play more Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2. It is now a mandatory law as both are now necessary to my survival.**


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